For a long time, this was one of the holy grails of reggae collecting, rare as hell and legendary as one of the roots era's best, lost records. The hype is for once worth it and this thing has easily jumped up to the top of my list of Lee Perry albums. A lot of his stuff has somehow gotten seriously over-rated, hyped to oblivion by press people looking for a latch to grab on to and hipsters doing likewise; but this is the real deal, the dreader than dread dub. If you've been wondering why everybody makes such a big fuss about him, this is a good place to start. A couple of the songs have lyrics and chatters (check "Croaking Lizard", the Prince Jazzbo voiced version of Max Romeo's "Chase the Devil") but all the songs are dubbed out as hell and deep, deep, deep. This is the height of the roots sound and one of the heaviest I know of. If you at all interested in roots or dub music, you have to have this record. Recommended.

• black vinyl pressing
• music label: Get On Down 2016

reviewed by the mgmnt 02/2016